Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America
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Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am · Nov 2012
ReviewUsing palliative care in progressive neuromuscular disease to maximize quality of life.
This article discusses the role of palliative care in the treatment pathway of patients with progressive neuromuscular disease (NDM), including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). People with severe NMDs like DMD are now living much longer, well in to adulthood. ⋯ Yet palliative medicine is a new area, especially for "adults" with DMD. Strategies for identifying the most effective modalities to alleviate suffering in patients with an NMD receiving palliative services and creating best practice standards in pain and symptom management for this patient population are discussed.
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Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am · Aug 2012
ReviewDisease burden in neuromuscular disease: the role of chronic pain.
This article reviews the evidence showing that chronic pain is a significant problem for patients with neuromuscular disease (NMD). Future directions are discussed, including the need for studies addressing the degree to which chronic pain contributes to disease burden and how psychosocial factors influence the experience of pain and its impact. Better measurement tools for chronic pain, quality of life, and burden of disease are needed and could be used via NMD registries to address the knowledge gap in this area.
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Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am · May 2012
ReviewSafety considerations during cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation program.
As more and more patients with cardiac and pulmonary diseases are living longer lives, the need for cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation continues to grow. The goal of this article is to provide clinicians of rehabilitation medicine with an overview of the safety concerns and strategies to implement in the rehabilitation of patients with cardiac and/or pulmonary disorder.
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The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare has cited communication as the most frequent root cause in sentinel events, with failed patient handoffs playing a "role in an estimated 80% of serious preventable adverse events." Handoff, or transfer of patient care information, occurs formally and informally many times each day, within and between care teams, across all levels of care providers and between institutions. Handoff at rehabilitation admission is at a particularly high risk for communication failure, potentially affecting patient safety. This review of the patient handoff literature discusses the importance of safe handoff, the information to be included, barriers to handoff, and improvement methodologies.